Sunday, September 14, 2014
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Once upon a time there were two little girls who were very much loved by their parents but, it was time for them to start a new chapter in their lives—kindergarten. Their parents were sad and wistful to see them walk through the red-orange doors in plaid dresses; but these two little girls were ready the moment they walked into that kindergarten class room - they walked in, saw the face of the woman who would lead them on this new journey— and they knew they would be just fine (maybe even better then fine)— and this woman turned to their parents and told them "you can go now."
them her own story of how it happened once when her mom and dad visited a farm and bought cream and it
This lady taught them so many things in the first ten months they were together. From how to make Apple Sauce, to how cream when shaken really hard will become butter (She told had turned to butter from the jostling around in the back of the car!)
As we grew, she showed us how other things were growing as well, from tomatoes in a grow box, to ducklings in eggs, to baby guinea pigs which came from ... we don't know, but they are super cute. She told them to bring sharp knives to school, to the concern of their parents who never let them touch even a butter knife, but how else do you make an Apple pie? She taught them that sometimes it's better to let things go, or suffer the consequences of the old lady who swallowed a fly. She protected Amanda from her over active imagination in the “Hall of Dinosaurs” at the Natural History Museum with one of her ever ubiquitous floral scarves by tying it around her eyes and leading her through blindfolded and describing to her what she was missing and telling her maybe we shouldn’t be a paleontologist, no matter how much we liked to read about fossils and rocks.
And then in June, after the learning “A” was the most Adorable letter in the Alphabet. They found out that Mrs. Di Chiara wouldn't be their teacher next year— and they cried, and their parents cried, and Mrs.Di Chiara cried too but, she told them it would be okay—that their Aunt Adele would always be there-but, we couldn't call her that during school time. We also couldn't tell anyone we ate at Aunt Adele's house. It was at this dinner we were told she would now be Aunt Adele—but not in school.
Then came September and we had to go into first grade and there was apprehension because whoever this teacher was, they'd never be as special as Adele. So we walked into school and to the classroom and guess who the teacher was? Our Aunt Adele—sorry, Mrs. Di Chiara!
And in first grade we learned a little bit more about the world. We hatched quail this time, because our mom had just rid her house of the smell of 16 ducklings and the quail could just be let go in the woods instead of a trek to a duck farm/petting zoo on the far reaches of Long Island...but so glad the ducks lived happily on a farm.
And we went to Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center...and the Metropolitan Museum of Art...(who knew one day Amanda would be working there!)
We got to go to the Bronx Zoo and pet a baby hippo and had a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach as a class pet. And we met our life long best friend Kaiya . And then it was the end of the year and we had to say our school goodbye. So we decided the best end of the year gift to Adele would be tickets to Cats. We had seen it the year before and knew we had to go again... so we save enough of our allowance for three tickets - us and Aunt Adele. Mom and Dad and Joe, could go but they'd have to figure that out. The little bit we had left over we sent to Actor Equity Fight Aids and charity started by the Cats Cast, because that was another thing Adele taught her students, how important it was to look out for other people... "We are the World." —something that went back to her Kennedy supporter days.
We then had other wonderful teachers. Aunt Adele was still with us, looking out for her twins. Alerting our parents to triumphs that we may have failed to mention) She took special care during some very frightening days for our family when we were 11, she was a constant.
More years passed, and we graduated 8th grade, we were finally allowed to call her Aunt Adele in public.
We have so many wonderful memories of Aunt Adele, herculean baking for cookie parties, the dinner theatre, Broadway, birthdays, Holidays spent together, trips, more graduations, boyfriends, planning showers, and a wedding.
It was supposed to last but ten months of teaching... but it lasted for 30 wonderful years.
Thank you Aunt Adele for great treasure chests full of wonderful memories you have willed to us alone.
Always, Your Girls
